Long stemmed blooms of Dahlia can be supported with pad of soft material used to support weak necked blooms-not required for stronger stemmed varieties. Stem and cane should be tied at not less than two places above and two below the first pair of leaves, ignoring the single leaves which occasionally appear.

If a light, thin cane is secured to the stem, extending from just below the bloom to a point about 1 foot below the first pair of leaves, the danger of breakage is negligible. Make one tie just below the bloom, and at least one below the first joint.

This tip is particularly useful with varieties with rather soft footstalks as these often bend beneath the weight of the developing bloom, although the stem usually stiffens once the bloom reaches maturity. In this case it is best to cut with the cane still tied to the stern, and to leave the cane in position until the bloom has been vased up and has had opportunity to become fully charged with water.

Blooms with a weak neck can often be persuaded to hold their heads at the right angle by tying a pad of material to the end of the supporting cane, forcing this right up under the bud so that the bud cannot drop as the florets open. When placing blooms into water make sure that the lower leaves do not go into the water, as they arc liable to rot.

If earwig traps are used, that is open matchboxes, straw filled pots, etc., empty the traps into a bucket of water to which a little paraffin has been added. The oil will naturally float on the surface and the pests will only live for a few seconds after contact with it.

Incidentally, if rooted cuttings have been bought and do arrive in rather poor condition, they can be best revived by potting up into a reasonably moist, very sandy soil compost. The soil should be very lightly watered, but the foliage should be kept perfectly dry. If treated in this fashion and then stood in a shady spot in the greenhouse or frame, even very sad looking plants will usually recover reasonably quickly. The important thing to remember is that the soil must never be over-watered, nor must the foliage be sprayed, until the plants have had time to recover and to get their roots well into the new soil. Even if some part of the root system has collapsed it is often possible to save the plant. In this case it is best to trim away the obviously damaged roots, to pot up into a propagating mixture (perhaps peat and sand in equal parts), and to treat as a cutting for a few days, except that the leaves must not be sprayed until these take on their normal green hue. Once fairly strong root growth has commenced, which should be within a week, the plants can be repotted into a normal soil compost. It will be as well to give such plants a feed with a medium strength quick acting liquid fertiliser, say about a week after potting up, to help them recover from the check to growth that has been experienced.